PLANE SCARY
JET SKIDS OFF RUNWAY:
An airliner skidded off a runway at a coastal Turkish airport and slid halfway down a steep slope — before stopping only feet from the Black Sea.
Pegasus Airlines Flight 8622 was landing at Trabzon Airport in northern Turkey at around 11 p.m. Saturday when it experienced “a runway excursion incident,” according to a statement by the Turkish budget carrier.
The plane, which was arriving from the capital, Ankara, veered off the runway and went over the slippery slope’s edge, coming to rest at a harrowing angle, its nose pointed straight for the water.
Fatma Gördü, one of 162 passengers on the Boeing 737-800, said she and her fellow fliers had no idea what caused the plane to skid off course.
“We landed on the track and then taxied a little on the runway. But then there was a huge noise, we started shaking,” she told the Hurriyet Daily News.
“We got pushed to the side; the plane’s nose was facing down, and the back was facing up. The passengers panicked a lot.”
And the panic only heightened when passengers feared the jet might explode, Gördü said.
“There was the smell of fuel everywhere. We thought a fire would erupt; we were afraid of that,” she said. “There were pregnant women and children ... People were saying things when they panicked, but no one understood anything.”
Another flier, Yüksel Gördü, said it was a “miracle” the plane didn’t plummet into the water.
“We were saved by a miracle. The plane could’ve burned, exploded or crashed into the sea,” he said.
“But thank God, we are safe. I feel like I’m going crazy every time I remember the moment.”
Authorities said no one aboard the aircraft, including its two pilots and four other crew, were seriously injured.
The airport was briefly shut down Sunday, and Trabzon Gov. Yucel Yavuz vowed to thoroughly investigate the near-catastrophe.